finding the batcave

yoda291

Diamond Member
Aug 11, 2001
5,079
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Here's an interview question I was mulling over in my head for an intern slot I'm likely going to have to fill. I kinda wanna toss it against ATOT to see what comes up.

Assuming no upper bounds on budget, a staff of ~20 college students, absolute political cooperation and the ability to use knowledge gleaned from comics,movies, and television -- devise a cost-effective plan to locate the batcave (lat and long) with least disruption to the residents of the city assuming the following:

- There is no bruce wayne (No looking under wayne manor as it doesn't exist -- there is only batman and his wealthy alter-ego whose name is unknown to you).
- The Batcave is not necessarily underneath a mansion.
- Batman patrols manhattan nightly in his batmobile and visits the cave before doing so every time.

(The position is of a technical nature, but does not require a technical background, so I've been banned from IT related questions and only critical thinking ones.)
 

FoBoT

No Lifer
Apr 30, 2001
63,089
12
76
fobot.com
get a hot chick to stick a transmitter/locator bug on him and then just track him back to it

the hot chick fakes she is in distress, he saves her, while he is carrying her to safety, she attaches the bug
 

IronWing

No Lifer
Jul 20, 2001
68,848
26,628
136
Cesium-137 powder is your friend. Dump some on the ground in front of the batmobile as it passes. Use an airborne gamma detector to track the batmobile back to the cave.
 

Ruptga

Lifer
Aug 3, 2006
10,247
207
106
Originally posted by: ironwing
Cesium-137 powder is your friend. Dump some on the ground in front of the batmobile as it passes. Use an airborne gamma detector to track the batmobile back to the cave.

"cost effective"? I'm sure MacGyver could rig up a gamma ray detector out of a water gun and some duct tape, but I don't think anyone else can, and I'm reasonably sure they're kinda expensive.
 

xanis

Lifer
Sep 11, 2005
17,571
8
0
Originally posted by: ironwing
Cesium-137 powder is your friend. Dump some on the ground in front of the batmobile as it passes. Use an airborne gamma detector to track the batmobile back to the cave.

Or you could just track it using RFID or GPS which would be legal, easy to get a hold of, and more cost effective.
 

yoda291

Diamond Member
Aug 11, 2001
5,079
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Originally posted by: Xanis
Originally posted by: ironwing
Cesium-137 powder is your friend. Dump some on the ground in front of the batmobile as it passes. Use an airborne gamma detector to track the batmobile back to the cave.

Or you could just track it using RFID or GPS which would be legal, easy to get a hold of, and more cost effective.

wouldn't you get a bunch of faulty tracks from all the other traffic in manhattan?
 

FleshLight

Diamond Member
Mar 18, 2004
6,883
0
71
Set orphanage on fire and put 1 orphan in a hard to access area. When batman comes to rescue him, blow up the claymore mine with 20,000 stainless steel ball bearings that you have planted. Then follow the blood trail to the batmobile. Follow batmobile to cave.
 

xanis

Lifer
Sep 11, 2005
17,571
8
0
Originally posted by: yoda291
Originally posted by: Xanis
Originally posted by: ironwing
Cesium-137 powder is your friend. Dump some on the ground in front of the batmobile as it passes. Use an airborne gamma detector to track the batmobile back to the cave.

Or you could just track it using RFID or GPS which would be legal, easy to get a hold of, and more cost effective.

wouldn't you get a bunch of faulty tracks from all the other traffic in manhattan?

Not necessarily. I would also assume that the batmobile would stick out like a sore thumb if it's going a bajillion miles per hour like in the movies and what not.
 

Ns1

No Lifer
Jun 17, 2001
55,413
1,570
126
they would probably want to you to ask "how fast do you want it done"

dunno about your specific field, but in consulting they always want you to ask "what's your budget and how what's your timeline"

since you've already ruled out the budget part, make sure you ask about the timeline

that said, GOOGLE STREETVIEW is your answer
 

yoda291

Diamond Member
Aug 11, 2001
5,079
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Originally posted by: NeuroSynapsis
they would probably want to you to ask "how fast do you want it done"

dunno about your specific field, but in consulting they always want you to ask "what's your budget and how what's your timeline"

since you've already ruled out the budget part, make sure you ask about the timeline

that said, GOOGLE STREETVIEW is your answer

the original variant of this question did have a time limit, but what ended up happening here was all my coworkers got fixated on the time as the limiting factor and not the fact that it's a cave that's gone unfound for decades by some nefarious fellows.

tho it occurs to me, one possible solution is to "post the question on the internet and go with the best suggestion".
 

ppdes

Senior member
May 16, 2004
739
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Couldn't you just put those traffic monitoring strips everywhere? Zero design cost since they are already used for normal traffic monitoring. Add a few cameras to confirm the bat mobile along with its speed and weight at certain spots. Then just chew your data until you see where it goes every night. If the number of strips is limited you could reposition them as you narrow down the possibilities.
 

Ns1

No Lifer
Jun 17, 2001
55,413
1,570
126
give batman a call on his cell phone and then triangulate his position? or does that only work on tv/movies?
 

yoda291

Diamond Member
Aug 11, 2001
5,079
0
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Originally posted by: NeuroSynapsis
give batman a call on his cell phone and then triangulate his position? or does that only work on tv/movies?

where would you get batman's phone number from? I doubt he's in the yellow book.

I like ppdes's solution...it involves math and gadgets.
 

mrSHEiK124

Lifer
Mar 6, 2004
11,491
2
0
Show the batsignal thingy and use satellite imagery/thermal scanning to track this. Of course, you'd have to do the process in reverse, waiting until Batman arrived at the scene and then following the batmobile back to wherever it came from.
 

IronWing

No Lifer
Jul 20, 2001
68,848
26,628
136
Put a wedding announcement in the Gotham paper announcing the wedding of Fergie to Britney Spears with Tom Cruise officiating. Wedding to be held at the Batcave. Let the paparazzi do the work for you as they try to get photos of Katy Holmes.
 

Fritzo

Lifer
Jan 3, 2001
41,883
2,121
126
If that was actually an interview question, I'd seriously have to rethink working there. I mean....wtf????